What is NFC and what NFC tags do??- Explained

NFC stands for Near Field Communication, It is a new technology or standards for smartphones to establish radio communication for sharing the data by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity,usually no more than a few centimeters.

NFC as you heard is a very nice technology for sharing the data very easily between two NFC compatible and enabled devices. Like Bluetooth and WiFi, it's a wireless radio communications standard. It is a new fed in smartphones for easy and quick data sharing. Using NFC (Near Field Communication), you can transfer information between your phone and other NFC devices, such as phones, NFC tags or payment devices. For example, you can share web addresses, contacts, phone numbers, music tracks, videos or photos. NFC is RFID(Radio Frequency Identification) based technology.

Now lets talk about NFC tags, what are NFC tags?
NFC (near field communication) is a wireless technology which allows for the transfer of data such as text or numbers between two NFC enabled devices. NFC tags, for example stickers or wristbands, contain small microchips with little aerials which can store a small amount of information for transfer to another NFC device, such as a mobile phone.
There are Different tags comes with different data types to store, and comes in different sizes too, You can store variety of data and information in tags. Usually, this information is stored in a specific data format (NDEF - NFC data exchange format) so that it can be reliably read by most devices and mobile phones.
Now, talking about the power of NFC tags. The NFC tags do not use any batteries of their own, They get their power from just being near a powered NFC device, for example a mobile phone. They use magnetic induction.

Types of NFC tags
There are four types of different tags, all are having different transfer speeds and different capacities.

1. Type 1- This tag type is read and re-write capable. The memory of the tags can be write protected. Memory size can be between 96 bytes and 2 Kbytes. Communication Speed with the tag is 106 kbit/sec.
2. Type 2- This tag type is read and re-write capable. The memory of the tags can be write protected. Memory size can be between 48 bytes and 2 Kbytes. Communication Speed with the tag is 106 kbit/sec.
3. Type 3- This tag type is pre-configured at manufacture to be either read and re-writable, or read-only. Memory size can be up to 1 Mbyte. Communication Speed with the tag is 212 kbit/sec. 
4. Type 4- This tag type is pre-configured at manufacture to be either read and re-writable, or read-only. Memory size can be up to 32 KBytes; For the communication with tags APDUs according to ISO 7816-4 can be used. Communication speed with the tag is 106 kbit/sec. 

You can also buy a NFC tag and can write customized data to them. Type 1 and Type 2 tags can be written to multiple times. These tags can also be permanently locked, or encrypted, so that no one can manipulate the data. Type 3 and Type 4 tags can only be written to once, like a CD or a DVD, and they lack the security of types 1 and 2. They differ in physical sizes too.

It is not too popular in India, but soon as the time changes, technology always emerges. So, we will soon be having the all NFC equipped railway stations, advertisements, airports etc. to make the life of people easier. By NFC you not need to wait in long ques to pay in Shopping retails and megastores like Bigbazaar, shopper stops etc .